Oak Hills Golf Men's Championship flight

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NORWALK

By STEVE GEOGHEGAN

Hour Staff Writer

Things didn't look all that great for Chris Giolitto after the first 18 holes of the Oak Hills Golf Men's Championship flight.

Giolitto, a former Norwalk High golf standout and defending champion in the 0-5 handicap, trailed Phil Garbarino by two holes going into the next 18 holes of the match play event and it could've been a lot worse. Garbarino was playing solidly and Giolitto would have to step up in order come away with a second consecutive championship.

But Giolitto knew there was still plenty of golf to be played and anything can happen in the game of golf.

When the dust settled, Giolitto turned in a scintillating second round of play to best Garbarino 5-and-4 through 32 holes Sunday in the annual Oak Hills Golf Club Championships at the 6,500-yard Oak Hills Golf Course.

"I felt going into the second 18 that I had some momentum and I really wanted to take it," Giolitto said. "I didn't want to hold back. I was trying to hit some pretty aggressive approaches because I was counting on him to sink putt after putt and I knew that if he was going to do that, I'd have to make a lot of birdies."

He made his fair share of birdies and also a couple of eagles, including on the 28th and 30th holes. The eagles, which came on the par-5 10th (547 yards) and 12th (516), put Giolitto in the driver's seat and Garbarino couldn't recover after that.

"I played really good in the morning (over the first 18 holes), that's about as good as I can play," said Garbarino, 38, who moved up to the championship flight last year before losing in the semifinals. "I made four or five birdies but was still a little wild hitting the ball.

"It was great playing with Chris and it was really fun watching him. He's got a great swing and I've never seen somebody hit the ball so solid consistently the way he did. I don't feel bad losing to Chris."

Garbarino was putting the ball well to start and was 5-up through 14 holes. The South Norwalk resident turned in a 3-over par 74 on the first 18 holes to go ahead 2-up with Giolitto shooting 5-over par 76.

After winning the 15th hole, a turning point for Giolitto came on the 16th hole (304 yards, par 4) when he made a key 12-foot putt to par the hole and avoid going back 5-down to Garbarino.

"Luckily that putt went in and I stayed 4-down and then I won 17 and 18," Giolitto said. "Even though I was 2-down, I felt it was something I could overcome."

He did overcome it and then some. Giolitto was able to square things with Garbarino through 25 holes and went on top to stay when he won the next hole, the par-5 eighth (491 yards), to take the lead at 1-up then caught fire on the back nine.

"To be five under through six holes on the back nine is something I've never done before," said Giolitto, who would have carded a 67 if he'd parred the remaining three holes had the match had continued.

There was nothing Garbarino could do in that stretch but look on in amazement.

"Chris came back and basically buzz sawed me," he said. "He played unbelievably in the second 18. He fought back and my hat's off to him."

Giolitto's eagles sandwiched a par on the 29th hole (par 4 11th, 367 yards) and he was well on his way to victory. Giolitto admitted the eagles were great but the par was a dagger to Garbarino.

"I hit a terrible first putt on the 11th hole and I hit it off the green but made a 12-foot putt which I think killed him," he said. "When he saw that, it was the straw that broke the camel's back."

Giolitto, who graduated from UConn this past May with a BS degree in landscape architecture, will next gear up for the CSGA Tournament of Champions at Bulls Bridge in South Kent next month and the Connecticut State Public Links at Richter Park in Danbury in October.

For now, though, he'll bask in the glow of Sunday's solid comeback victory.

"It was definitely great to win it the first time but this one lets me know that the first wasn't a fluke," said Giolitto, who beat Harold Buckle in last year's title tilt. "And to win the way I did was special."

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